An American toy and video game company who based their products around films, television and celebrities. Closed in 1994 by parent company Acclaim Entertainment.

Overview

LJN began life as a toy company founded in 1970 that focused on creating toy lines out of licensed properties. The company was later bought by MCA, Inc. in 1985 and branched into publishing video games in 1987. MCA later sold LJN to Acclaim Entertainment in 1990.

Much like its days as a purely toy-based business, LJN's focus in video games was on games based on licensed properties, including films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th. LJN also published a number of wrestling titles using the WWF (now WWE) license. However, the company was closed in 1994 and dissolved into Acclaim Entertainment.

Acclaim briefly revived the LJN name in 2000 as the publisher of the critically panned Spirit of Speed 1937. This was likely done in an effort to separate the Acclaim name from the title's low quality.

LJN Infamy

Today LJN is infamous for the overall quality of their games during the 8-bit and 16-bit era, and they are often referred to as the worst publisher active at the time. "At the end of the rainbow there's never any gold to be found, only crap" (- AVGN, Angry Video Game Nerd), referring to LJN's rainbow logo.

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